True Stories of Survival

Usborne Young Reading Series 4

by Paul Dowswell

From shark attacks and blazing airships to exploding spacecraft and sinking submarines, these are real stories of people who have stared death in the face and lived to tell the tale. Find out what separates the living from the dead when catastrophe strikes.

Genres: Nonfiction, School, Childrens, Adventure, Short Stories

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Paul Dowswell is a British writer of nonfiction and young adult novels who has written over 70 books for British publishers. He was a senior editor at Usborne Publishing, then went freelance in 1999.

Reviews

[Kiah Nordgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading my childhood books

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of fascinating stories of people who survived terrible situations. Included in this book are accounts of people lost at sea, caught in a volcano, airplane crashes, and other scary but true situations.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt read this with the boys, and they LOVED it. I will probably get some of his other books. We got this one from a school book order. My boys love non-fiction stuff, and this fit the bill just right. It goes over the stories of Apollo 13, the story of Shackleton's expedition into Antarctica, a shark attack, the story of the Hindenburg, and others.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has opened my eyes to some of the horrors of the worlds history. It is not a bad thing, history is a very good thing. But sometimes history can be so terrifying and sad. In this book are stories of people who have survived very tragic situations. And faced death straight in the face.

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly amazing to read, and it's even more impressive when you consider that all of the stories in it are true!

[Rhoda Crowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at some of the worst disasters in history and those who survived to tell their tale.

[Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Survival by Paul Dowswell is a very interesting book. This book is about many different stories including a drive to disaster which is about a submarine that started flooding and people got trapped for 8 hours until deep sea divers came into save them. It also includes a drift in the dessert, it's about two pilots that were trying to set a new world record by flying from france to california in a month. During this they crashed and were stranded in the sahara desert with nothing but a bottle of alcohol an apple and an orange and a thing of cookies. One of my favorite stories in it is a sharks breakfast and this one is about a teenager who surfing and then suddenly he felt an excruciating pain in his leg and soon after found out that a great white shark was latched onto his leg.
This book is worth reading because it teaches you about history and stories about how people survived different situations. Usually I don't really like reading but I could actually read this book. It was very quick pace and didn't spend extra time talking about pointless things. I also liked that this book wasn't like any normal books. For example it had many different stories and did not only have one to talk about for 141 pages this made the book way more entertaining. A downside to this is you didn't really have time to build a character and really get into it and start caring about the characters. This book makes me feel a little bit sad at some parts but mostly happy because usually they always end up surviving in the end and they get to tell an awesome story to their children and grandchildren.
Life is hard and you will always go through hard times and struggles, but you will eventually get through it. In all these stories they all go through hard times for example when all those soldiers got stuck in the submarine they all had to sit in the freezing cold water running out of oxygen, but in the end most of the men made it out alive. When the boy got attacked by a shark he didn't just let it eat him he fought back by kicking and punching it and eventually it backed off and let go. You will get through it!

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The central idea of True Survival Stories by Paul Dowswell, is we must continue on no matter how hard things get. In this book, there are multiple true stories about people who were able to live through things from shark attacks to airplane crashes. In each of the stories, there is a person that takes lead and tries to help the others fill at peace even though they are also very scared. This is the same person that is also trying to find a way to save the others no matter what it takes.
In True Survival Stories, the word “survival” is used a significantly more amount of times than other words. The book has several different true stories, about people, survived ridiculous things. The word survived in this context was to live through a tough situation and the dictionary definition is “continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship”. To me, these two definitions mean the same thing. I would say that the joint definition is someone that pushes through something extremely difficult and lived. This impacted the book because even though these people could have easily given up and lost sight of hope they pushed through and survived these hard situations.
TO me this book was pretty good. I found it kinda confusing how there were so many different stories in the book. However, this can also be looked at as a good thing because every story that he chose to put in had its own components that made it worth reading. He portrays these people so realistic and it was almost like I was there which I have no idea what I would do if I was in any of these situations because they would be so hard. Overall Paul Dowswell did a great job.

[Destini · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main idea in the book True Survival Stories by Paul Dowswell, is that it is important not to give up. He shares several true stories about people who have survived dramatic situations. In each situation, there is always someone who is the leader and they make sure that everyone is calm. They never give up on the situation and make sure that they can find a way to save everyone that is in the same kind of danger that they are.
True Survival Stories by Paul Dowswell, was a really good book. It had several different true stories, about people who have survived dramatic situations. The central idea in this book is probably the word “survive”. Every story was different, but it involved a fantastic story about someone who survived a scary situation. The author really lets you know that crazy scary thing happen to people, and it is amazing that they survive and are able to tell us their amazing stories.
Paul Dowswell did an amazing job on this book. Every story that he put in this book is very interesting. He keeps you hooked to every story and you are always at the end of your seat wanting to know what is going to happen next, is everyone going to be saved. I really likes the stories that he put together in this book, it is very interesting reading about things that actually happened and how it most have felt for the people who went through this. I couldn’t even imagine putting myself in their shoes. Paul Dowswell did a fantastic job!

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories throughout history of different survival situations. I would've liked to see more pics of the events. Maybe some photographs included in some middle pages of the book. I had also read about the Shackleton expedition to Antarctica in the book "Polar Adventures", but it was nice to see some stuff about it again.

[Grayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book wasn't really my thing. I could have skipped it and not felt bad at all. I would not read this again. My favorite has to be lucky 13. About the spacecraft Apollo 13 mission. But one thing I liked was that all the stories were different by a lot. It was not set the story in a story type deal. I wouldn't recommend this book or say don't read it.

[Michal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1st chapter of this book is a bit long and details a submarine disaster. It took us 2 sittings to get through it. The rest of the stories were vivid and engaging. There were almost always requests for 1 more chapter, even from my 3 year old. Each chapter has lots of breaks so it's good for emerging readers.

[Snarhooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of survival stories. Some I already knew of, but the book included extra details I was unaware of. Some were completely new to me. There are some illustrations that are useful to add clarity or emphasis. The stories are mostly quite short but generally very engaging. There is plenty of information but it is written for a middle grade audience so is well explained.

I am disappointed it is no longer in print as it would have been a great tutor time read.

[Jodie Typn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sách cung cấp khá nhiều ví dụ thực tế về các trường hợp sinh tồn trong hoàn cảnh hiểm nghèo. Tuy nhiên vì nhiều câu chuyện kể hơi qua loa (chắc do nếu kể dài thì phải tách riêng mỗi truyện 1 cuốn sách) nên chỉ cho 3 sao. Vẫn khuyến khích đọc để học thêm 1 vài mẹo sinh tồn nho nhỏ.

[Travis Bow · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son really wanted me to read this, and it was pretty interesting... quick little episodes of true survival stories that kind of reminded me of watching a Discovery channel show. Not my typical cup of tea but entertaining and interesting enough.

[Sam Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geared more towards middle schoolers I would say, awkwardly balancing this dude is bleeding out with but he survives! There were some stories I could just tell there was more to it, and so it was just a very boiled-down version of what happened. Others I hadn't heard of but sounded complete as is.

[Styles X · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great, it showed many terrifying and interesting content. My favorite one was, "Sharks Breakfest."

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short accounts of how people survived disasters.

I found many of the pieces very interesting.

Reading time around two hours.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome I loved it

[Gunnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cool, I had no idea all of that stuff really happened.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute informative Usburne kids book with some useful survival tips

[Jennifer Plested · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading and am thinking of keeping to read again which is rare for me
Great exciting true stories

[sgabig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this book is non-fiction, I would have preferred a bibliography at the end to fact check sources for the stories.

[EllisKrause · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Survival" was really unique and cool in it's own way. The author used a type of style with different stories like a story about a sinking submarine or a story about a shark. Each story had a dramatic effect that made you want to finish the story and made you want to read another story that the book has to offer. If someone were to ask if I would recommend this book I say YES because this book was fun to read and I enjoyed the dramatic and well written stories.

[amusha23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many things you have to do survive. People can die from many things. You can die from animals eating, biting, or attacking you. You can die from being underwater or being in a suit or boat or submarine without oxygen. You can die from an explosion or a bomb or anything to deal with fire or electricity. This story was about people who died/lived until one of these situations.

[Sol · Rating 3 out of 5]

the story "Survival" by Paul Dowswell is 10 intense survival stories in one book. And all these survival stories are real, and they are told in a 3rd person. The 10 stories go from sinking submarines to shark attacks. If you enjoy true survival stories, than this is the book for you.

[Danielle Wondergem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rate the book 9 out of 10 because it is amazing and you can't stop reading. The reason I have not given it ten is because some of the stories are a bit boring. I recommend this book for people between 8 and 12 but if you're a bit younger I still think you would enjoy the book.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good so far

[Mac]

sequel to usborne crime and detection. REALLY want to read this book.

[Ricardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinda confusing at first but later on in the book i started 2 like it